Industry Strategy & Business Development

Chicago Quantum Exchange

Mentor

Kate Timmerman, PhD Executive Director, Chicago Quantum Exchange

Background

The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is a growing intellectual hub and community of researchers with the common goal of advancing quantum information science (QIS), related technologies and applications. The Chicago Quantum Exchange is anchored by the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and includes the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, seven industry partners (with more to be announced soon), and several non-profit and international academic partners.

Externship Description

This 10-week externship for PhD candidates and postdoctoral scholars will help to inform our strategy and processes for industry engagement. Externs will work with CQE staff to gain experience in competitive analysis, program design and implementation, evaluation, and outreach. Externs will participate in regular progress meetings with CQE staff, (virtually) interface with researchers across the member institutions and share their findings with CQE leadership.

Specific Objectives

Depending on alignment with skills and interest, the intern(s) will work on one or more of the following projects:

• Collect and interpret information related to CQE and industry research, such as QIS-relevant efforts at companies in select industry sectors, to highlight synergies in existing CQE partnerships
• Identify potential corporate targets for CQE partnerships and develop strategies for engaging with current and prospective corporate partners, to include research, education, workforce development, and others.
• Develop a competitive landscape analysis of QIS initiatives worldwide and at different types of institutions to provide recommendations for scaling CQE’s corporate partnership program.
• Identify and analyze successful scientist training programs in academia and industry and provide recommendations for CQE’s existing training programs
• Aggregate and analyze relevant scientific communication by competitor organizations, industry and academia and provide insights into the impact of and engagement with those items.

Qualifications

• PhD student or postdoctoral scholar in the physical sciences or molecular engineering (fields include physics, computer science, chemistry, and others)
• Candidates will have a strong interest in applying scientific knowledge to business
• Able to commit at least 10 hours per week for 10 weeks on independent research, phone calls, and virtual meetings
• Able to attend weekly Zoom meeting(s)